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𝙋𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙋𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 – Are you asking the right questions?

While certain problems and frustrations are unique to specific clients, many will be more universal. As you identify these trends, you can adjust your marketing strategies and re-evaluate your product offerings to address these common pain points and make customers happier right across the board.

Let’s look at a few general examples of open-ended questions that you can tweak and use for pain point discovery in your specific industry.

“𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜?”

This is a conversation starter – a question that just scratches the surface of the frustration that the client feels.

It is designed to get the client talking. You won’t know where the conversation will lead to, but it will open up doors so you can understand your client better.

“𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 '𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣' 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙?”

Once you’ve identified a pain point, it helps to know what kind of havoc it is wreaking on your client. Could it be costing them time and money, or just distracting them from other things?

By asking this question, it helps you assess the risks of doing nothing against the benefit of making a change. It will also give you some insight into the client’s motivation for wanting to make changes.

“𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣?”

This question not only helps you identify the potential obstacles a client may be facing, but also what solutions they may have used in the past to try and address the problem.

This gives you an opportunity to follow up and ask about those experiences, what went wrong and what the client would have changed. Knowing the history will help you provide a better solution.

"𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙨𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢?

You may have the perfect solution to the client’s problem but if their expectations aren’t realistic, they may never be happy with the results. This question is about gauging and setting expectations.

“𝙒𝙚’𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙓 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨. 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙞𝙩?”

Some people may have a problem with pain point discovery and could use your guidance. They may have gotten so used to dealing with it, that they have forgotten that it is an issue.

This type of question helps by providing a frame of reference to the client. You are not trying to sell them anything or guide them to a specific topic. Instead, you are offering a topic of conversation and allowing them to open up about their unique problems in relation to a known pain point.

If you really want to make your client happy, don’t pitch solutions based on guesswork. Take the time to talk to your clients. Ask open-ended questions and actively listen to their responses.

By focusing on pain point discovery, you’ll learn more, and your sales will definitely improve. Remember to continuously tweak your marketing strategy once those pain points have been revealed.